Darkness
by luvindrewfuller
Summary: Chris has gone missing and no one can sense him. Is hopefully better than it sounds!


_I was bored in the car coming back from Lancaster so wrote this on my brother's laptop. Everyone knows who he is and he gets along with Leo. And personally I don't think this is any good but..._

_I'm gonna shut up now... _

..............................................................................

Chris stood in the attic poring over the book of shadows – again.

"Chris, what are you doing?" His aunt Paige had just come upstairs to search for a vanquishing potion.

"Nothing." He said sheepishly, he knew he wasn't supposed to be up here; the girls had decided he was getting too obsessed. "I was looking for Mom."

"I think she's downstairs honey." His aunt said ignoring the fact that she had just seen Chris with his nose in the book. "Why don't you go check?"

Silently Chris nodded then orbed downstairs. He was lost in thought, trying to work out which demon it was that was going to turn Wyatt, when the darklighter appeared behind him. The first he knew of it was when an arrow embedded himself in his chest. He screamed out in pain and his mom ran into the room just in time to see her Chris dark orbed away to the underworld.

"Phoebe, Paige! Leo!" She hollered. "Now!" Two groups of orbs rematerialised in front of her.

"What?" Paige said annoyed. "No need to shout so loud."

Piper gestured behind her where her oldest son stood. "Notice anyone missing?" She said looking pointedly at Leo.

"What?" He said confused.

"Chris you idiot!" She shouted. "Darklighter shot him and then said darklighter took him with him."

"Oh." Leo said quietly.

"So sense him already!" She snapped.

"I can't. He's in the underworld."

"So let's go then." Paige interjected before Piper could snap at Leo again. She grabbed hold of Phoebe and Piper before anyone could object and orbed.

Leo was left to orb himself.

Alone.

They rematerialised in the Source's old cave.

"So, where is he?" Phoebe asked.

"Uh." Leo murmured something indistinctly.

"Leo!" The shout came from all three of them.

"He's not here." He said it so quietly only Piper could hear him.

"What!?" She exploded causing her sisters to both cover their ears.

"Piper! What the hell?" Paige asked, ears still ringing.

"Chris isn't in the Underworld." Leo said. "I don't even think he's on this plane."

"Wait. Not on this plane? How is that possible? Darklighters don't have that power. Do they?" The last part was directed at a very uncomfortable Leo.

"No." He orbed off leaving the girls to figure it out themselves.

"Charming!" Piper said. "Where'd he go?"

"God knows."

"Well. Scrying?" Paige suggested.

"Why not? I want my son back. Couldn't do any harm." Piper sighed. "Let's go."

She held her sister's hand as they orbed back to the manor.

***********

"Where the hell is he?" Leo roared, sending bolts of lightning towards some of the columns. "Where the hell is he? Please, just tell me!"

"Leo, ca"

"I will not calm down. He is my son! For gods sakes. Just tell me where he is! Please!" He broke down crying. "Please, just tell me me, please! He's my son; tell me how to find him. Please."

"Leo."

"Just tell me."

"Leo, we can't."

Leo's anger flared up again. A passing Elder found his robes alight.

"Leo!"

************

Chris groaned and looked up.

"Ah, you're awake."

"Two questions, who the hell are you and where the hell am I?"

"Patience whitelighter, I wouldn't get too cocky. I've got more arrows than just the one sticking out of you right now."

Chris looked down and winced. He made a small gesture with his hand and the arrow ripped through the rest of his body. He bit back a scream as it shot through the unbroken skin on the other side.

"Should have done your homework buddy; arrows, really not the smartest plan."

He grinned and orbed back to the manor.

The darklighter smirked.

"You should have done yours."

**********

"It's not working." Paige dropped the crystal on the map frustrated. "Maybe Leo was right, maybe he isn't on this plane. Although I don't know how that's possible." She looked over at Phoebe.

"Hey, don't look at me. Piper's the expert, she's the one that's been on another plane recently."

"Whoa, that does not make me an expert. I have no idea. Leo was the one that realised. Not me." Piper said forcefully. "Definitely not me."

"Well scrying doesn't seem to be working, I'm thinking alternate plane theory is sounding pretty good whether we know anything about them or not." Paige stole the Book off Piper. "So I'm going to look for something about them."

Leo orbed in.

"Where'd you skip out on us to then? Chris is missing and you just disappeared!" Piper rounded on Leo the second he reformed.

"Sorry, I went to check with the Elders who for some reason think that they can't tell me anything." Leo said in defense. "I didn't abandon you guys, honest."

"If you say so." Piper said, still annoyed. "Any ideas? Scrying really not working and sensing's a no go."

"No." Leo said dejectedly. "They're not telling me anything and I can't tell if he's on another plane without being there so..." He trailed off.

"That would be a no." Paige put in helpfully.

"No; what err yeah basically I have no idea, and my guess neither do they." He took his oldest (technically youngest) son from Piper. "Either that or they just enjoy making you guys suffer."

"I'll go for the second theory." Phoebe piped up earning her a swat on the arm from Piper. "What? It's true, probably."

"Look just forget it, can we concentrate on finding Chris, please. You know he's gonna do something stupid, he loves suicide missions." Piper said earning smirks from the rest of the room.

"She's right. How much do you want to bet he's racing round the Underworld with about eight arrows in him determined to kill something?" Paige said.

"I'd bet but you'd win." Phoebe said, taking over the scrying duty.

They laughed, Chris' situation temporarily forgotten.

**********

Chris orbed into the manor. Well he thought he did, the Book of Shadows was gone and there was no one home.

"Guys?" He called, wincing as the cut on his side sent another bout of pain through his body. "Where are you?" He put a hand over the still bleeding cut and walked upstairs to the bathroom each step agony as he jolted the wound. He collapsed against the door, telekinetically pulling a bandage towards him. He hit the floor hard unable to keep himself up any longer. Groaning he fastened the bandage and orbed away.

*********

"Ok this is now useless. I give up" Phoebe said pushing the map away from her in disgust. Paige chose that moment to orb in from Magic School. She grabbed the crystal from Phoebe.

"Dimension map." She said by way of explanation.

"Oh."

"So, is it working?" Piper asked.

"No, wait yes."

"Was that a yes?"

"I think so." Leo said, glancing over at the map where the crystal had settled.

"So where are we going?" Piper asked curious.

"Somewhere we've been before." He said grabbing hold of them all and orbing.

Piper scowled once they reformed. "You mean we could have orbed out of here?!"

"No. The first time a portal brought us here so I couldn't orb out plus the way we were brought here meant we had no powers."

"So we do this time?" Piper's question was answered by the weak orbs that appeared beside them.

The orbs solidified into Chris, pale and shaking.

"Oh my God. What happened?" Paige asked dropping to the floor beside him.

Chris only moaned in response.

"Leo. Heal now." Piper commanded. Leo obliged, holding his hands over the whitelighter's wounds. After a minute he took them away despite the glow.

"It's not working!" He said desperately as Chris slipped into unconsciousness. "Something's blocking me."

"Honestly Leo, what is it with your healing and being blocked?"

"Paige, now really not the time to joke." Piper said also dropping to the floor beside her son.

"Sorry, but I can't help it. It's engraved in my DNA."

Chris groaned. "How...bout...arguing...stop?"

"Hey, Chris stay with me!" Piper said urgently watching Chris' eyelids droop again.

"Why aren't we orbing out of here?" Phoebe asked.

"Chris' being is attached to whoever brought him here, we have to either vanquish it or drag it back with us."

"Darklighter." Chris murmured. "Where...Wy?"

"He's fine Chris. He's with Sheila." Leo said.

"Good." He said allowing himself to drift back off. "He...safe."

Piper bent down and kissed Chris' forehead and murmured. "You're gonna be fine Chris, don't worry peanut." A look of confusion crossed over her face after she said the word peanut. "What the?"

Chris stirred just long enough to mutter. "Future...conse...quences."

Piper smiled. "You know you won't get away with that excuse forever buddy."

Chris just smiled softly and curled up in a ball.

"So, darklighter vanquish time?" Paige asked.

"Yeah. Leo stay with Chris, it might be better if he didn't die. A certain darklighter is about to find himself in a_ lot_ of pain."

The girls orbed away leaving Leo with Chris who had slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Just hold on buddy ok?" He said to the limp form. "Just hold on, you're gonna be ok."

************

"So, where is he?" Phoebe asked after they had once again failed to locate the darklighter.

"How should I know?" Piper said. "Paige try sensing, you're half whitelighter it should work."

"Got him."

"Where?"

"Right behind us."

"Congratulations. You worked it out and here I was thinking you were going to leave your whitelighter to die." The darklighter applauded mockingly. "Shame, now I've got to kill you too."

"You wanna bet?" Piper said blowing him up. The darklighter disappeared leaving behind a pile of smouldering ash. "Right orb now." She grabbed hold of Paige's hand and the three of them orbed off.

************

Chris stirred briefly and Leo looked up.

"Hey. Chris are you awake?"

The girls orbed in.

"Oh thank God. I'm guessing he's dead then?"

"Yeah." Piper replied. "So orb."

Leo did so, grabbing hold of everyone. Chris was, if it was possible, even paler than before.

"Chris!" Piper ran over to him. "Oh God."

"Mom." Chris moaned. "Love...you."

"Come on Chris, don't give up! Chris!"

"Can't...I...you...mommy." Chris' eyes closed and he shuddered. Piper just stared in shock.

"No, no, no. Chris! No Chris. You aren't dead; you can't be dead, no." She broke down. "No, it can't be possible, no, no, no, no, no NO!"

Leo came over and pulled her into his arms, trying to comfort her. "Shhhh, Piper, it's ok, he's not gone ok? He's still here, sorta. He hasn't been born yet. It's ok."

Phoebe and Paige just stared in shock. The image in front of them must be a lie. But it wasn't.

Christopher Halliwell, neurotic whitelighter from the future, was dead.

....................................................................................

_So... what do you think????_

_Obviously it's a bit AU given that Chris dies but that wasn't planned when I started writing._

_Reviews are muchly appreciated!!_

_Ldf x_


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